AP National News

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italian news media say that the widow of a Naples organized crime boss who was convicted of gunning down her husband’s presumed killer for revenge has died. She was 86. Italian state TV and the La Presse news agency said Assunta “Pupetta” Maresca died Thursday in her

By AUDREY HOROWITZ Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — Israel has approved a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to COVID-19, becoming one of the first countries to do so as it braces for a wave of infections fueled by the omicron variant. The director general of the Health Ministry announced the decision at

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer In 2021, it was as if a century’s worth of issues fell on college sports all at once. Lawmakers took aim at the NCAA, undercutting its ability to govern. The Supreme Court issued a scathing rebuke of the so-called collegiate model. A new era of athlete empowerment

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general says a jury has held Teva Pharmaceuticals responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis by delivering a verdict in a sweeping lawsuit filed by the state. Attorney General Letitia James’ office said Thursday that the Suffolk County jury found the company played

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved a fourth vaccine dose for people most vulnerable to COVID-19, becoming the first country to do so as it braces for a wave of infections fueled by the omicron variant. The director general of the Health Ministry, announced the decision at a press conference late on Thursday. He says

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s attorney general says a small town’s police department has operated in a way that led to discrimination against African Americans and violated their constitutional rights. Attorney General Mark Herring filed the lawsuit Thursday against the town of Windsor. The court action comes after a monthslong

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A state appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on death row for the killings of two people near Cache in 2009. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Thursday that the land in southwest Oklahoma where the murders were

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer At-home COVID-19 tests are able to detect the omicron variant, but U.S. health officials say early data suggests they may be less sensitive at picking it up. Government recommendations for using the tests haven’t changed. People should continue to use at-home tests when a quick result is important.

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are pressing nursing home workers to get their booster shots amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag in booster vaccination for residents and staff. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra says the nation cannot afford another COVID-19 surge in nursing homes.

BALTIMORE (AP) — An explosion at a CSX facility in Baltimore created a loud boom but officials say they have no reports of any injuries. Baltimore Fire Department spokeswoman Blair Adams says coal was moving though tunnels at the CSX Curtis Bay Coal Terminal on Thursday morning when the explosion happened. CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild

By GLENN GAMBOA and HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writers The arts industry has been battered during the past 21 months, as organizations furloughed staff, canceled shows and slashed their budgets to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations to arts groups also dropped off last year. Many slowly resumed in-person events, though some are now suspending plans

By RAHMAT MIRZA Associated Press LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia (AP) — A group of 120 Rohingya Muslims has disembarked from a boat that drifted for days off Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh and was towed by a navy ship into port. The boat was reportedly leaking and had a damaged engine. Efforts to rescue its passengers, who

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — When NBC’s “This Is Us” begins its final season, fans won’t be alone in dreading the show’s end. Star Mandy Moore says it will be “horrific” to say goodbye to it and her character. She says “This Is Us” was a dream job “on every

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say a roadside bomb exploded outside a college in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing four people and wounding 15, mostly passers-by. Police say Thursday’s attack happened outside the Science College in the city, which is the capital of Baluchistan province. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italy’s culture minister has welcomed the return of 201 prized antiquities valued at over 10 million euros ($11 million). The objects welcomed back on Thursday had been located in prestigious U.S. museums and galleries after being illegally trafficked in recent decades. They were among thousands of antiquities

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s state statistics agency says that more than 87,500 people with COVID-19 died in Russia in November, the highest montly tally since the start of the pandemic. Thursday’s report by Rosstat brought the overall number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 to over 625,000

BEIRUT (AP) — Bahrain’s news agency says the king has appointed the country’s first ambassador to Syria in more than a decade. Thursday’s decree by Bahrain’s king came as more Arab countries are improving relations with Damascus, nearly 11 years after the outbreak of Syria’s civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed

By NOHA ELHENNAWY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese security forces have fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters rallying against the October military coup. A Sudanese medical group says at least four protesters were killed in the violence. The Sudan Doctors Committee tweeted that the fatalities took place in Khartoum’s twin city of

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will speak by phone on Thursday about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine. It’s a new round of leader-to-leader talks that come as the Kremlin has stepped up its calls for security guarantees and test fired hypersonic missiles to underscore

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are pressing nursing home workers to get their booster shots amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag in booster vaccination for residents and staff. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said Thursday the nation cannot afford another COVID-19 surge in nursing